WASHINGTON (CNN) - The House Thursday decisively rejected a resolution directing the president to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan this year, but the vote also showed a deep divide in the president's own party on the war.

The final vote tally was 321 to 93, with 85 Democrats supporting the proposal.FULL POST

(CNN) - The Barack H. Obama Elementary School in Asbury Park, New Jersey will close its doors July 1st because of low academic achievement and declining enrollment in the district's schools, according to a release from the Asbury Park State Fiscal Monitor's office.

Students at the elementary school, named last year for the president, will attend two other local schools beginning next fall, and School Superintendent Dr. Denise Lowe said the configuration will help improve academic achievement.FULL POST

But, perhaps by luck of the Irish, some four years after the president learned about an Irish ancestor who fled Irish famine and came to the U.S. - new information is emerging about 28 other Irish-Americans who share the same Irish ancestor with the president, and are still alive.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – In a mostly party line vote, Republicans voted 228 to 192, to strip National Public Radio of all federal funding.

The standalone measure, introduced Tuesday by Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, bars any of NPR's affiliate radio stations across the country from using any federal funds to purchase any programming from NPR. The vote is a victory for Lamborn, who tried unsuccessfully to strip federal funding for NPR last year.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - The Senate easily passed a spending bill Thursday to keep the government funded for three more weeks as lawmakers and the White House work to bridge their deep divide on a larger spending package that will run through September 30, the end of the fiscal year.

The vote was 87 to 13. Four Democrats and nine Republicans voted against it.FULL POST

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Barack Obama announced on Thursday - St. Patrick's Day - that he will stop in Ireland in May as a side trip from his state visit to the United Kingdom, and that he hopes to visit the birthplace there of his great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

He made the announcement as he met with the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in the Oval Office. The birthplace is in Moneygall, he said, adding that he also plans to visit "famous sites" in the country.

Washington (CNN) - Republican Sen. Jim DeMint came to the defense of Mitt Romney over the health care plan Romney passed while governor of Massachusetts.

The South Carolina senator blamed the Democratic state legislature for the ultimate plan that has similarities to the current health care law, including the individual mandate that requires all residents, with some exceptions, to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.FULL POST

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York, called out Republicans on the House floor Thursday morning for allegedly breaking their own rules, during debate on a measure that would strip federal funding for National Public Radio.

Weiner objected to consideration of the bill, saying it violates a House rule, "which requires 72 hour layover of the bill and it to be electronically noticed in order for it to be considered by the House." He continued, "This bill did not lay over for 72 hours. It was noticed at 1:42 p.m. on Tuesday. Therefore it has to wait until 1:42 on Friday to be in compliance with the rules of the House."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Even before he unveils his plan for major reforms to entitlement programs, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan admitted Thursday he doesn't expect any bipartisan agreement on changing Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security this year, saying the issue will likely be decided in the next election.

"If the political conventional wisdom is that they're just waiting to demagogue us and use this against us in political campaigns - which I don't know, it probably will happen - then that means we go to the country and say which future do you want," Ryan said at a breakfast on Thursday sponsored by Politico.FULL POST